Why Charlotte Tilbury’s Fragrance is Worth Its Weight in Gold

“Creating your own destiny is about igniting the psychoactive freque...

charlotte tilbury

“Creating your own destiny is about igniting the psychoactive frequencies and emotional pathways that unite us,” declares makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, known for beautifying (and partying with) the likes of Kate Moss and Penélope Cruz. The eccentric redhead isn’t trying to get me to join a cult, but rather discussing her debut fragrance, Scent of a Dream, in her eclectic London office. After blending her own perfume for years and attracting attention from anyone within sniffing distance, Tilbury decided to create a brand new category—floral chypre—for a fragrance that’s as free-spirited as she is.

Here’s the complete rundown on the scent.

The Inspriation

Raised in Ibiza by “bohemian” parents,Tilbury always had “an innate fascination with the way that science, spirituality and the laws of the natural world come together.” During her trippy upbringing, she studied astrophysics, telepathy and the history of the universe under the guidance of a well-known guru. “He showed me that emotions are our energy centres,” Tilbury explains. “So I wanted to create a scent that would ignite the love, positivity, power and sex within the wearer and the people around her.”

The Juice

Tilbury tapped fourth-generation perfumer François Robert to execute her vision of perfume nirvana. Prominent notes include peach, black pepper and jasmine, but the most interesting elements were chosen, unsurprisingly, for their supernatural attributes. Violet, for instance, contains the molecule ionone, which plays a ghostly vanishing act on the nose—first you smell it, then you don’t. Frankincense, one of Tilbury’s non-negotiable requests, acts as “the spiritual portal from this world to another world,” she says earnestly. “It takes you to your higher self.”

The Face

She’s painted the face of pretty much every top model in the game, but Tilbury picked bestie Kate Moss (maybe you’ve heard of her?) to front her inaugural fragrance. In the campaign videos, Moss spritzes herself with a cloud of Scent of a Dream, demonstrating its innovative vapour technology. “My whole thing is ‘Spray the magic way,’” says Tilbury as she liberally mists behind her ears, wrists and ankles. “As you walk through the day, it moves with you.”

The Bottle

For Tilbury, the packaging had to be as mystical as the scent it holds. She looked to old-fashioned potion bottle design and incorporated nods to medieval symbolism—a spire stopper, an octahedron lid and starburst engravings—to bring the story full circle. “I’ve always had an affinity with alchemists because I feel that’s what I’ve done with my makeup,” she says.

The Trail

Perhaps by divine coincidence, the scent does seem to leave behind a trail—an impressive feat considering that fragrance experts have had little luck intentionally achieving it. Tilbury says the “sensuous, nuanced” trail drew people to her while she was secretly wearing the fragrance during development. “I’ve been everywhere from weddings to airports and had men and women run after me saying, ‘You can’t keep this to yourself!’”

Charlotte Tilbury Scent of a Dream, $119 (50 ml), Holt Renfrew

Photography by Amber Hickson



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